Jumbled
by Utatane Piko V3
Summary: Everybody likes to get taken for turns, to see how bright the fire inside of us burns. - Sweet Ann is dead. That's bad news enough, but what happens when it turns out one of this dysfunctional group of friends is the murderer, and they're starting to pick the others off? Rated T, but it might go up.
1. A Day In The Life Of Hatsune Miku

**author's note(s): piko is a pre-op transgirl in this fic, so that's why i refer to piko by she/her pronouns in this. this fic has gumi/mayu, one-sided meiko/miku, miku/ia, and probably some others that i will mention when they roll by. i'm sorry this chapter is kinda boring, things'll start going on later on.**

There was only one thing that Hatsune Miku hated.

And that was being Hatsune Miku.

But she could very easily expand her list. She hated a lot of things if she expanded her list. She hated Gumi Megpoid. She hated the fact that she lived off of nothing. She hated that she mooched off her roomate that crushed on her, Meiko, for a living. She hated the fact she couldn't hold a friendship or relationship for more than five seconds. She hated that she couldn't go back in time and fix every one of her mishaps. But she couldn't.

That just made her hate even more.

Her neverending list of hate increased when a buzz came from her bag. Reaching her hand in and groaning, she fumbled for the buzz's source.  
There. On her phone's cracked screen. There was a text. A text from Meiko.

And that text's contents changed her life.

Meiko - 6:12 PM - _Sweet Ann died last night._

It was a blunt text. Very blunt. But that was expected of Meiko. Miku's eyes widened, and her shaking fingers slowly and carefully typed up a response.

Miku - 6:13 PM - _how? ?_

It took a while for a response, and Miku could just picture Meiko sitting on her bed, leaning against the wall, and twirling a strand of greasy red-brown hair around her finger with a "hmmm". After a long while and Miku about to pester the girl with "hello? ? it's v rude not to respond u kno!", a response did roll by.

Meiko - 6:16 PM - _Overdose, I think. There were traces of poison found in her body. I don't know, I'm no doctor._

Miku pondered how to reply. She was half-tempted to just say 'that sucks', but she'd probably look like an ass. Yolo.

_ Miku - 6:16 PM - that sucks ! :(_

_ Meiko - 6:16 PM - You're an ass, Miku-chan._

Saw that one coming. Miku sighed, shaking her head. She put her phone back in her purse after turning it off. She was in a rather large mall, specifically a clothing store. She looked through the number of outfits hung up, finding none that peaked her interest specifically.

Disappointed, she just grabbed the most tolerable one; a purple satin dress paired with a skirt a few shades darker. With that in hand, she searched for the dressing rooms. _There. _She walked over to them at, for whatever reason, a fast pace.

Giving the woman at the counter a nod and a fake smile, Miku headed towards the stalls. She noticed, out of the corner of her eye, a familiar silver-haired girl. "Hi, Piko." Miku greeted.

Piko jumped up, surprised by Miku's sudden appearence. "Hi, Miku-san.." she said, holding a cute and frilly floral print pink dress in one hand and pushing a strand of hair out of her face with the other. "Um...are you coming to Gumi-san's birthday party next weekend?" she asked, nodding to the dress Miku was holding.

Miku blinked, shaking her head. "No. I just don't have much clothing back home." She said as she opened the door to one of the stalls with a _click!._ Piko tilted her head for a few moments, before perking up significantly. "Oh! You're living with Meiko-san, right?" Miku nodded. "Yeah."

Miku quickly ended her conversation with the transgirl as she entered the stall and closed the door behind her. She dropped her purse and was about to unbutton her outfit when her phone rang. "Dammit, why now...?" she mumbled as she foraged through her purse, eventually finding her phone.

She put it up to her ear with a bored-sounding "Hello?". There was some shuffling of what Miku assumed was papers before the person on the other end spoke.

_"Hihi, Miku-chi!"_

_ Oh, no. _Miku rolled her eyes and let out a rather obvious sigh. _Gumi. _"Hi, Gumi." she said with a tired and bored tone.

_"Hi! So, ummm...me and Mayu-chi are going out on vacation this weekend! Would you mind looking after Rin-chi and Len-chi for us? Pretty pleaseeee?"_

Miku easily got the implications of 'vacation'. Gumi and her girlfriend Mayu were quite the touchy pair, going into full-on makeout sessions during group movie nights that made Piko start screaming. They weren't invited to any more movie nights after that.

The teal-haired girl sighed. "Gumi. Rin and Len aren't even your kids, they're old enough to be left alone, and I'll be busy this weekend anyways." Truth be told, Miku had made up the latter part, but it was just in case Gumi insisted Rin and Len had to be looked after.

Gumi pouted. It was then followed by _"By the way, did you hear about Sweet Ann?" _Miku responded with a "Yeah."

Gumi then proceeded to recount Sweet Ann's death in detail, Miku making "mhm"s and "that sucks"s throughout the description. Just when Gumi was about to start going on about what poisons could have possibly killed her, Miku interrupted her and was able to end the conversation.

She put her phone back in her purse and removed her current clothing and carefully slipping into her newly bought ones. She looked in the mirror, and smiled. She looked decent, and the outfit didn't feel too tight or too big on her.

Satisfied, Miku changed back into her old clothes, folded her new ones, and left the dressing stall. She didn't see Piko again, and she figured that the shorter girl was still attempting to get her dress on or off.

After a bit of walking, she found the main counter. She handed over the outfit she bought, not keen on making small talk with the clerk. "That's 12.28, please." The clerk said, smiling. The girl managed to scrap together enough money to pay, pushing it towards the clerk.

After counting the money, the clerk looked up at Miku. "Have a nice night, miss." Miku nodded. "You too, uh..." She looked at his name tag. "Hiyama Kiyoteru..." She grabbed her clothes, now in a plastic bag, turned tail, and left the store.

Miku had managed to get on a bus and find herself on the route to home. The bus was full, and she found herself sitting with a girl around her own age. The girl smiled at her. "Hi, miss!" She had long white hair put up in a braid at the side of her head, covered by a dark green hat. She had a baggy long-sleeved jacket the same color as her hat, with a light blue sweater beneath it.

Not wanting to sound rude, Miku responded with a "Hello." The girl smiled. "It's a nice night. It's pretty cold out, though." Miku nodded. "Yeah. This jacket's mostly all I have." She pointed to the dark blue jacket she was wearing. The girl frowned. "That's no good!" Suddenly, she removed her jacket and wrapped it around Miku.

Miku went a bit pink for a moment, but she soon settled down in this stranger's coat. It did feel pretty good, after all. "Um...my name's Miku. Hatsune Miku." The girl grinned. "It's very nice to meet you, Miku-san! I'm Aria, but you can call me IA." Miku raised an eyebrow. "IA? Like, the letters?" IA nodded.

"So, where are you headed?" IA asked. "Home." Miku replied. "You?" "Same. I don't have a car. I ride the bus to and from." IA shrugged. Miku laughed. "Same here! My roommate borrows a car from her friend, but I don't get to ride it that much." IA nodded.

The two continued with small talk until Miku glanced out the window and spotted her street. She leaned forward, pressing the 'stop' button, causing a loud 'ding!' noise to sound. "It's my stop." Miku said. She smiled at IA. "It was nice meeting you, IA. See you tomorrow, I think." IA smiled. "You too, Miku-san."

Miku skipped off of the bus, waving to IA a final time before the bus drove off and the girl entered her abode. She glanced around the house, figuring Meiko was in her own room. It was fairly early, but Miku was dead tired. She treaded to her room and set her shopping bags down. She flopped onto the bed, pulled the blanket over her head, and she was asleep in minutes.


	2. There's Trouble Behind That Door

In a run-down house in a run-down city, there was a run-down girl asleep in a run-down room. Miku turned in her sleep, not allowing the gloomy early morning light to pass through her eyelids. She covered her eyes with an arm, which blocked her vision and made it easier to fall back asleep.

Despite that, she could not fall asleep. She tossed and turned in confusion, but she soon realized that she was simply hungry. The girl rolled out of bed, stretching and yawning. She was still half-awake, so she was already making bets with herself on whether or not she'd make it to the kitchen without bumping into anything.

The odds were not in her favor.

Despite tripping over the coffee table, Miku managed to make her way into the kitchen. She yawned once more as she opened up the fridge. Hm, there was less stuff there than there was yesterday.

She sighed, shaking her head. She just decided to make something small, then eat at a restauraunt if she went out that day. The girl took the jug of semi-old milk and rummaged through the cupboard, eventually settling on a stale-looking loaf of bread.

Not caring to get a plate or glass, Miku sat on the counter by the oven, eating her breakfast. The bread tasted hard and flavorless, and the milk wasn't all that cold. At least it filled her up.

She had managed to finish what little was left of the milk, so she tossed it in the trash can. She wiped the stale bread crumbs from her face as she left the kitchen and walked over to Meiko's room, the door open.

"Um..Meiko?" she said, creaking the door open so it was large enough for her to enter. She looked around the room. Meiko was nowhere to be seen. Miku walked over to Meiko's nightstand, finding a notebook paper tacked to it.

_Went out for breakfast with Gumi. I'll be back later._

_ -Meiko_

Yeah, that made sense. Miku sat on Meiko's bed, taking her phone from the pockets of her pajama shorts. She went through her contacts, finding Meiko. She pressed the 'call now' button, putting the phone up to her ear.

_Bbbring. Bbbbring. Bbbbbring. Bbbbbbring. Bbbbbbbring. Bbbbbbbbring..._

Miku then turned off her phone after the next few rings. Meiko didn't have her phone with her, for whatever reason. Miku sighed, deciding to phone Gumi instead.

It yielded the same response, which was, to say, no response at all. Miku angrily huffed, putting her phone back in her pocket. _Guess I'll have to go out then. _The tealette thought, going back into her room to change into new clothes. _Oh well. Maybe I'll see IA on the bus again._

Miku eventually got changed into a blue button-up sweater and a skirt that was both decent-looking and enough to keep her warm. She put on a red pair of gloves and pink earmuffs after she redid her long pigtails.

Taking her jacket from last night on her way out the door, Miku headed to the nearest bus stop. She used buses when Meiko couldn't drive her, so she knew each stop by the back of her hand. She held onto the pole of a sign with one gloved hand and the other in her pocket.

Fate deciding to spare her from the cold, the bus came rather quickly. "Careful, it's slippery." the bus driver said as he watched Miku shakily walk up the steps. Miku got on the bus soon, and she noticed IA waving with a smile.

Miku smiled back, walking over to sit with her newfound friend. "It's chilly out, isn't it?" IA asked as she scooched to the right to make room for Miku. Miku nodded, huddling up to IA for warmth. IA laughed, wrapping a sleeved arm around Miku and pulling her close.

Miku went a bit pink at the motion, but decided to not let her flustered emotion show. "I'll be going to get something to eat. You wanna come with?" IA tilted her head at Miku. Miku smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I didn't have much for breakfast anyway." The girl shrugged.

IA grinned. "It's a date, then?" Miku nearly fell over in surprise. "D-date?" IA giggled. "Kidding, kidding!" "Give me a heart attack, why don't you." Miku huffed. It was _technically _a date though, wasn't it?

The two talked and chatted for a while before IA found the restauraunt she had been thinking of. Miku and IA got off of the bus, Miku looking over the restauraunt IA had picked. It looked nice enough, and Miku couldn't resist the delicious smell wafting from inside.

The two entered and sat at a table by the window. Miku's mouth was watering upon seeing the rather large steak two people were sharing at a table near her and IA's. "So, are you new in town?" Miku asked, going through the menu the waiter had given her.

IA nodded. "Yeah." "Do you know anybody yet?" IA closed her menu, looking at Miku. "Well...I know you, and my friend introduced me to these two kids she used to take care of. Len and Rin Kagamine." "Oh." Miku smiled. "I know Rin and Len! My ex-boss and her girlfriend adopted them. They were orphans, you know."

"They're not biologically related, that I remember. I hears rumors that they were seperate kids who got kidnapped!" IA's eyes widened as she spoke, clutching her fists together for emphasis. Miku raised a hand. "I think that's just a rumor. Nobody really knows what happened to their parents."

IA shrugged. "It's what I was told." The waiter came by again, asking what the two had ordered. IA had apparently ordered a grilled fig stuffed with goat cheese and a dark chocolate coffee. Is dark chocolate coffee even a thing? Do we even know? Miku just settled on the same coffee along with two large lettuce, ham, and cheese sandwiches, one of which was for Meiko once she returned home.

"Don't worry, Miku-san. Food's on me." IA said, smiling at Miku. "So, do you know everybody in town?" "I recognise everybody, at least. I might not remember them later on, but I still know them. I do have a number of friends around here." IA leaned forward, intrigued. "Really? What are they like?" Miku blinked.

"Um..let's see. I live with Meiko. She's awesome, and she's really nice. Piko's quiet, but she's really nice, too. She's like a little sister to me! Um...Gumi- she's the ex-boss -kind of gets in my nerves, but her girlfriend Mayu's pretty chill. I don't talk to Gakupo that much anymore, but I feel bad for him, he's gone through a lot. Uh..Haku's pretty gloomy, but we're pretty good friends, and I know her most next to Meiko, Luka, and Kaito. Neru, we used to pull pranks on everyone, it was fun. Cul's nice enough. We don't talk much, but she's Piko's girlfriend and Piko talks about her a lot. Kaito sometimes misses social cues and he can be kinda creepy, but I still like him. Luka, she moved away. We still talk on the phone, we've been friends since first grade!"

Miku didn't realize until she was done that she hadn't stopped to take a breath during that entire rant. IA went quiet, tapping her chin with a worn down fingernail, picturing everybody in her head. Picturing a heroic redhead ready to help her dear friend in need, a cute and tiny silver-haired girl in a frilly dress, a green-haired girl in goggles with eye-bags and scattered papers and a blonde-haired goth helping her up, a sad-looking older man, a depressed girl with long silver hair in a ponytail, a girl next to her preparing mayhem, a skimpily dressed redhead holding Piko's hand, a blue-haired man inappropriately close to the others, and a pink-haired girl packing her bags.

"They all sound really nice." IA said as the waiter returned with the two sandwiches Miku ordered. Miku nodded, thanking said waiter. IA's food arrived a while later, and soon the two, like always, were talking about a number of odd topics ranging from recipes to music.

The two finished their food, Miku getting the other sandwich wrapped in aluminum foil by the waiter. "I don't wanna go home." IA whined. Miku shrugged. "I'm not in a hurry. We can go shopping or whatever if you like." IA grinned like a child off to the toy store, and nodded.

The two's time was extended. They went to the same mall Miku had been in the day before. They ended up running into Haku and Neru and the group of four girls spent the rest of their shopping day together. IA kept cracking jokes about Haku and Neru dating. The girls were not amused.

Afterwards, all four said their goodbyes, and Miku and IA were soon on the bus after paying for what they bought. "Today was fun." Miku said. IA smiled. "Yeah! It was good to meet Haku-san and Neru-san, they're nice." Miku nodded, IA leaning in closer. "Are you sure they're not dating?" she whispered, a goofy smirk on her face.

Miku chuckled, shoving IA away. "Yeah, I'm sure!" "They'd be such a cute couple, though.." IA said. Miku rolled her eyes. The bus stopped at Miku's home, and she skipped off the buss. She waved at IA a final time before the bus drove off.

Miku walked onto the patio and opened the door, and her heart sank. She was having such a good time just thirty seconds ago, but now...

_They were hanging upside-down by their feet tied to a rope, which was in turn tied to the ceiling. Their red eyes were glazed over and lifeless, staring at Miku as if to ask her why, __**why **__they're here in such a sick state._

_ Their clothes barely covered numerous stab wounds, and while the blood had dried mostly, it was still a disturbing thing to look at. Their wrists were cut, but it wasn't a deep enough wound to cause that much bleeding and give their victim the mercy of a quick death. Well, a quick death compared to being stabbed._

_ Adding to that, their knuckles had been crushed, and Miku could have sworn she saw bones jutting out. There were cuts and scraps on their legs, and their teeth were bloody despite no visible wounds in the mouth._

_ Meiko Sakine was dead._


	3. Sirens Drowning Out The Screams

At that moment, Miku nearly fainted. _Meiko?! Is that...is that really...really her? _She stumbled towards her now dead friend. She reached a shaking hand towards Meiko's face. It was cold and stiff. Yep, she was dead.

She grabbed her phone from her jacket, calling 110 immediately. She was trembling, and her phone was already slick with sweat as she waited for what seemed to be an eternity for it to pick up.

"110, what is your emergency?" a woman on the other end asked.

"I was..okay, I-I was...I just got home...and...and..." Miku trailed off. "I got home from a bus ride, and I opened the door, just..just now. My housemate, she's dead in the doorway..."

"Miss," the woman said slowly, like a teacher. "I understand you're upset, but take a deep breath, we're going to ask you some questions, okay?" Miku slowly nodded, doing as told. "M...Mhm...okay. Sorry."

"It's okay." the woman responded. "What is your address?" "Um..hold...hold on. It's, uh...2835..Harvest View..The third house on the right, the one with the red bricks and concrete patio." Miku said, unable to remove her eyes from the body of her friend.

"What is your name?" "Miku...Hatsune Miku..." "Do you see any weapons, Miku?" "Not at the moment...but I'm guessing she was stabbed, with a knife.. over and o-o-over..." "Okay. When did you find the body?" "Um...a few seconds, or...or a minute or so..before I called."

"Okay, Miku. Don't touch the body, okay? Sit tight, you should be hearing sirens soon. Don't hang up, Miku. Okay?" Miku nodded. "Yeah. I'll stay on, thank you..." Miku took a few steps away, going down the steps to the patio. She sat on the lowest step, crossing her legs.

She closed her eyes, hoping it was all a bad dream. She wanted it to be a nightmare that she was having after dozing off on IA's shoulder on the bus and she'd wake up and IA'd be hugging her close and telling her that it's okay.

But sadly, that wouldn't happen.

The blare of sirens could be heard in the distance, and Miku held her head. "Hello, miss? I can hear the sirens..." She said weakly. She didn't need loud noises right now. "Okay." The operator said. "Okay, Miku. You can hang up now." "Thank you, miss." "It's no problem."

Then the line went quiet, the only other noise being the sirens getting closer and Miku's pounding head. Alerted by the sirens, some of Miku's neighbors had come outside out of curiosity.

_"What's going on?!"_  
_ "Get murdered on another street, I'm trying to film!"_  
_ "Did something happen?"_  
_ "Holy shit!"_  
_ "Oh my god, they found me out."_  
_ "Is there a fire?"_  
_ "D-did somebody get hurt?"_

Multiple policemen and policewomen got out of the car. Two people up front glanced at each other before walking over to Miku. "Are you Miku? Hatsune Miku?" Miku looked up at the red-haired police woman walking over and nodded.

"Hi. I'm Officer Mikami. Anyway, what is the name of your dead housemate? This isn't for investigative purposes, it's mostly just to make covnversation easier." Mikami pulled out a notepad. "Meiko Sakine." Miku said. "She's 24 years old." Mikami nodded, writing down what Miku had said so quickly that the girl couldn't possibly replicate writing at that speed.

A girl with short black hair along with a camera and, oddly enough, light blue facepaint, almost tripped over Miku walking up the steps to the house. She glared at Miku, and if looks could kill, Miku and all of her extensive family members would have been slaughtered on the spot. "Sorry about her." Mikami sighed, referring to her coworker. Miku shrugged. She'd probably by snappy too if she worked with dead bodies for a living.

"Anyway," Mikami went on. "Where were you before you found the body?" Miku was too busy watching the girl that had tripped over her taking pictures of Meiko's body that she had tuned out Officer Mikami's question. "What?" Mikami sighed. "Where were you before you came home and found Meiko's body?"

"On a bus." Miku replied flatly. "I spent the day with my friend Aria, IA for short. We ate brunch at that restauraunt across from town hall, then we went to Rockaway Mall and met up with my other friends Yowane Haku and Akita Neru, then me and IA got on the bus, and I was dropped off. After the bus drove off, I went up the steps, opened the door, and found Meiko's body."

Mikami nodded, writing down a paraphrased version of that as well. Miku scratched her head. She hadn't washed her hair in two days. "Haku and Neru live in that apartment next to Guiga Hotel. Haku's in room 2A, Neru's in 13B. I don't know where IA lives, though. She takes the bus everywhere, so if you get on the bus you might find her." Miku shrugged.

"When was the last time you saw Meiko?" "This morning, if it counts. I woke up and went into her room. She had a note on her nightstand saying she had gone to breakfast with Gumi Megpoid, another friend of mine. I tried to call her and Gumi, but neither picked up."

After jotting all that down, Mikami put her notepad away. "For now, at least, that's enough questions. Your home is under investigation, so would you like to stay at the police station or rent a hotel?" "Hotel." Miku said. "I have mostly everything I need with me right now, and I carry light anyway." She shrugged.

Mikami nodded. "Okay. We'll come back to investigate more later on. We can drive you to a hotel if you like." the red-haired woman clicked her tongue. Miku shook her head. "It's okay. I can...I can call a friend to drive me." Mikami nodded. "Would you like us to contact you in case anything more is found?" Miku nodded. "Okay."

Miku watched Mikami and her coworkers leave her home. Once they were all gone, Miku pulled out her phone. Who should she call? She settled on Mayu. She could at the very least ask her about Gumi's whereabouts.

She dialed the girl, who picked up almost straightaway. "He-hello." Miku greeted. "Hi." Mayu responded. "Can Ah help you?" Miku held back a chuckle. Mayu had a Southern accent that she managed to cover up when singing or in formal situations, and it made her sound rather goofy.

"Yeah, Mayu. Could you drive me to that hotel? The cream-colored one with like fifteen whole balconies?" Miku asked. "Uh...sure." Mayu said, not sure what she had expected Miku to ask. "Ah'll pick you up in a few, okay?" "Sounds good, thanks..." 

Miku then hung up. She was about to turn and look at Meiko's body, but she then found the door to her home had been closed. Miku bent down, poking at blades of grass with her fingernails. The poking soon turned to shredding, and then grass was all over Miku's body.

It earned her an incredulous look from Mayu when she eventually drove up, at least. Miku sighed, brushing her clothes off with a "sorry." as she picked up her bags from earlier that day. She teetered her way to Mayu's car, uncomfortably sitting down in the passenger's seat. She closed the door, fastened her seatbelt, and nodded at Mayu.

The drive was mostly quiet until Miku spoke up. "Have you seen Gumi today?" Mayu glanced at Miku, but kept driving. "No, Ah haven't. Hav'n't seen her since last night, in fact." The blonde awkwardly scratched at her cheek. "Oh." Miku frowned, unsatisfied. She should probably wait until papers get out to tell Mayu about Meiko's apparent murder.

But something in the back of her mind made her worry about Gumi. She shook her head in denial. Even if Gumi had ended up dead, it'd be Mayu's problem, not hers.

Mayu pulled up to the hotel, leaning back in her seat after unlocking Miku's door. "Here we are." Miku smiled and nodded as she got out of the car. "Thanks for the drive, Mayu. I'll repay you." Mayu smirked and bit her lip, tugging at her shirt. "That's good." Mayu, _no._

Miku turned to look over the hotel. It was getting kind of dark out. She quietly walked inside to check in. "You're in luck," the receptionist had said. "We've only got one room left." The room itself was rather nice except for the horrid smell. At least there were air fresheners.

Miku placed her bags by the nightstand and walked over to the bed. She pulled off her jacket and got into bed. She pulled the pink covers over her head.

The emotional stress from the day got to her, and the trauma of her best friend dying was too much for her to take.

Hatsune Miku wept all night.


End file.
